I am sure your news feed on the various social media channels that you follow have been inundated with the challenge to donate to the ALS foundation or dump a bucket of ice water over your head. I kept seeing more and more people take the challenge and douse themselves, and to be honest, it got on my nerves a little. It seemed like a “look at me, I need attention” type thing. I usually don’t go with the status quo, so since everyone was doing it, I decided I was going to avoid it. My thoughts were that people would rather dump ice over their head than give to a good cause.
Here is where my opinion changed.
I had been so cynical and selfish that I wasn’t looking at the big picture. I donate a lot of money to the hospital where our son, Lucas, was born and passed away on September 18, 2004. I never really think of donating elsewhere. The Lucas Fund is “my charity.” Selfish. Then I looked at the big picture. ALS didn’t mean much to me. Then someone mentioned that ALS is Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I hadn’t connected the acronym to the disease I had seen change the lives of people I cared about. My friend Monica’s mother has been battling ALS. I have seen first hand how hard it is not only on her, but on her loved ones.
My son Connor got challenged by his buddy, Luke and I decided it was time to step up to the plate and participate. So Connor, Cole and I did the Ice Bucket Challenge while Jen recorded us. Cole, of course, had to be in on the fun and was a trooper. We turned around and put the challenge back to our friends that are dealing with ALS as a tribute to Monica’s mother, Steve’s mother inlaw and Rylan and Brennen’s grandmother, Mrs. Kelly. We also are making our donation in her honor toward the effort to fight ALS.
So before you dismiss the Ice Bucket Challenge as a publicity stunt, accept it as such and see what kind of good it is doing for people. A stream of ice water and donations is not a bad thing. “Look at me. I need attention”. It works for this charity.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.
